Pie, Part Two

It feels like the scene before the shootout in the streets of the old Western town: everybody eyeing everyone else, waiting for someone to make a move.

I'm still waiting for some opinion on the newly organized Office of Arts and Culture to emerge from arts organizations, but no one wants to go on the record yet. So, while we wait, some news about the new Youth Music Commission.

The YMC, which has yet to be appointed and will fall under the purview of the newly organized Office of Arts and Culture (OAC), is going to work on the model of the Seattle Film Office, which helps cut through red tape and smooth regulatory problems for film companies (although I'm hearing rumblings that the Film Office's emphasis is going to shift). The YMC will oversee the All Ages Dance Ordinance, and be the link between the city and promoters staging all-ages events (certainly an improvement over shows being shut down by the police or the fire department for no good reason). The YMC was created to keep the ordinance fluid and relevant, but local promoter and former member of the Music and Youth Task Force David Meinert openly wonders if, once the relationship between city entities and promoters reaches a stable, working level, we'll need the ordinance at all.

"The YMC will be monitoring how the AADO impacts the scene," Meinert said, "negatively or positively. If it needs to be strengthened, it can be, or [it can] even be done away with." Meinert was unguardedly enthusiastic about popular music coming under the umbrella of the Seattle Arts Commission (SAC), pointing out that it might as well get some city support since it's so important to the city's economics.

Huh. Again, I wonder, does popular music need the kind of support that other arts do? That the OAC stands to make life easier for arts organizations might sound like all sorts of hoo-hah if you're an arts organization that faces the prospect of losing funding in a year that's slender to begin with. But there are benefits to SAC waking up to a more active role in arts operations, and not just funding.

For example, on the eve of Consolidated Works' gala opening three weeks ago, a last-minute boondoggle over permits nearly brought everything to a halt. Michael Killoren (the new director of SAC) was happy to tell me that he was able to solve this problem with a single phone call to the mayor, who called the Department of Design, Construction and Land Use and cleared everything up. Ever the suspicious type, I asked ConWorks' executive director Matthew Richter if it was true, and he said, "Yep."

So there.

emily@thestranger.com